“Ah! my God! how did you come here? And I, to keep you waiting!”
“A long time, monsieur; yes, a very long time!”
“I am happy in thinking this waiting has appeared long to you, marquise!”
“Oh! an eternity, monsieur; oh! I rang more than twenty times. Did you not hear me?”
“Marquise, you are pale, you tremble.”
“Did you not hear, then, that you were summoned?”
“Oh, yes; I heard plainly enough, madame; but I could not come. After your rigors and your refusals, how could I dream it was you? If I could have had any suspicion of the happiness that awaited me, believe me, madame, I would have quitted everything to fall at your feet, as I do at this moment.”